Lint is a fact of life.

I've just come back from a quick tour of New Zealand with the BERNINA team, launching the new Q16 sit-down longarm quilting machine. One of our frequent topics of discussion was lint and machine cleaning.

Before we would run a class or a demo for the dealers, we would clean and oil the machines, change the needles, load full bobbins, and test sew the machines. I took a photo of the inside of the bobbin area just after doing that. Looks beautiful, right? Those two big white things are the double BERNINA stitch regulators.

Something I've heard are comments like, "Gosh that thread is linty, I'm not going to use it." Or, "Yuck, that batting is so linty." 

But lint is a fact of life! We are textile artists, we work with fibres, no matter what batting, what thread, what fabric we use, we are going to get lint! And yes, some are more linty than others, but that shouldn't stop us from using them if they are giving us the effect we want in our quilt.

So here's a picture of the inside of the bobbin area after a three hour class. The stitch plate isn't on, that's why it's brighter. But check out the lint! And we were using good quality batting, fabrics and threads.

Lint is a fact of life! When you sew with fibres, especially on a high-speed machine, you are going to get lint. Your job isn't to try and find the least linty products to use, your job to clean your machine.

Make it part of your sewing routine. Sit down to sew, pop open your machine and give it a quick swipe with your lint brush. The more often you do it, the less time it will take. And while you are there, give it a drop of oil as per your instruction manual. You really should be giving it an oil every 4-8 hours of sewing time. 

And I guess now is a good time to remind you to change your needle too. Every eight hours of sewing!

Your time is valuable, set yourself up for a good days sewing. You've spent plenty of money on your machine and on your fabrics, you've given up your valuable time to your project, so don't skimp on those couple of minutes it will take to clean and oil your machine so that you can have a well-running machine that will be a joy to sew with. 

Happy quilting!

Lockdown Day 14

I've been exchanging regular emails with my stitching group. We're a small group and in non-lockdown times we try and meet weekly for some tea and cake stitching and chatting. They are fabulous friends, caring and motivating and kind and funny and I'm missing them....

Anyhoo. I told them via email that I intended to make one item of clothing during lockdown.

There is lots of creativity and industry flying round the interwebs at the moment. There is also lots of anxiety and sadness and stress. And I get both states of being. I understand if people feel totally motivated, and I also get it if people don't.

But for me, I like the idea of coming out the other side of this strange time with something that I can show for it. Something that I can say, "I made that during lockdown." I guess that's one of the reasons I decided to write in my blog every day. It's such a weird time, sometimes overwhelming, and I wanted to mark it somehow.

I bought an overlocker at the end of last year. A second-hand Bernina 700D from a guy that services machines. It was purchased with the intention of making more of my own garments, but so far all it's made is cushions (which I blogged about here).

So there, now I've announced my plans, very publicly! I better go and see if I've got a pattern or can find one via download that I like.

I'll let you know how I go.

Bernina Walking Foot Maintenance

Here's why I like social media - and in particular, Instagram!

A couple of days ago I noticed my walking foot was jamming up a little.  I've been entrusted with quilting the raffle quilt for our quilt guild and I want it to be as perfect as possible so I was watching carefully and I'd see and feel the stitches getting smaller as the foot struggled to pull the quilt through.  The grabby bits (real tech speak!) were getting stuck at the end of their grab and weren't releasing to come forward and make another grab.

I undid the foot and had a good look but I couldn't see anything obvious.  So I took some photographs so I could put the thing back together if it fell into a million pieces, grabbed my screwdriver and started to unwind the one screw I could see.

All that did was loosen the foot prongs so I could take the actual foot part off the foot.  But that allowed me to fiddle with the prongs and rollers a bit closer and I found that one of the rollers was seized.  I gave everything I could a clean and I oiled the rollers, but still no luck.  You can see me pointing to the roller in question in the photo below.

So I turned to Instagram and posted a little help me please video and tagged the good people at Bernina in.

Within a short while I had a suggestion about working the oil in by turning the roller with my finger or tweezers.  I tried it and it seems to have worked!  And Bernina even contacted me again to ask if I had had any luck.  How awesome!

I've had my Bernina Aurora 440 for at least 10 years and I use it constantly and I absolutely love it (I'm not being paid to say that, but hey Bernina if you're listening - I'm totally open to sponsorship!).  My walking foot has travelled so many miles that I thought there was a good chance that I'd worn it out.  But no, it just needed a bit of TLC and it keeps on trucking.

So my suggestion to those of you who have Bernina walking feet, is to oil the rollers regularly and then you'll avoid them seizing like mine did.  If it has seized, work the oil in by oiling and then turning the roller with your finger or tweezers.  Give the oil some time to soak in too.  I used my clear sewing machine oil, which should be fine enough for the job.  Wipe it well so you don't get oil on your precious quilt and then you are good to go.

So here's a big thank you to @berninanz on Instagram for responding so quickly, providing me with fantastic help and letting me carry on with quilting the guild's precious quilt.

And thank you to the other's who offered suggestions and even the loan of their walking foot!  What a fab community.

Lego Sewing Machine Fun

I showed my kids a Lego sewing machine that Helen over at My Inner Thread had made (after she came across one from suchitysuch.blogspot.com).  They got right on the job and this is what they came up with:

I haven't had the heart to tell them that sewing machines go round the other way!

The coloured buttons (from blue through to red) are fast and slow.  There is a thread guide leading down to the presser foot.

My daughter came up with the little lever on the side to tighten the thread - I must have told her about thread tension at some stage, amazing what they pick up and remember.

And my absolute favourite bit - the 'whirligigs' on the inside!  Whirligigs is their word, but doesn't it describe the mechanics of a sewing machine perfectly?  And the red button on the back is the on/off switch.

I think Helen's is probably cuter, but I love that my kids were so enthused about making me one.  And they were super excited when I said I was going to put it on my blog and show the world (they have an inflated idea of my 'fame').  So if anyone wants to make some kids feel special, then leave a comment and I'll read each one out to them and get them to dictate a reply.

Have a great weekend!

Hand-cranked Unity Sewing Machine aka Belinda

Meet my new friend.  Her name is Belinda.

We are still getting to know each other.  Belinda needs a bit of TLC.

But her handle cranks and her needle goes up and down.  She has spare bobbins and a few interesting looking feet.   

Shortly she'll go off and meet the nice sewing machine doctor.  I've promised her it won't hurt a bit and she'll feel good as new when she comes home (finger's crossed).

Isn't she a darling?

Been busy quilting

During the week just past, I was fortunate enough to attend a Bernina 440 refresher course, run by Itch to Stitch, the Bernina and quilting shop in Whangarei.  They came up to us in Kerikeri and put us and our machines through our paces. 

I bought my Bernina about five years ago to replace my 30+ year old Elna that I had got from a garage sale.  I'm not a fanatical Bernina fan, but I did like the solid feeling of the machine, the great warranty (five years on electrical and ten on mechanical), and the BSR (Bernina Stitch Regulator), which keeps your stitches even when you free-motion stitch.  Funnily enough, I prefer not to use the BSR now as I'm pretty good at keeping my stitches even anyway and I feel it gives a jerky look to my quilting.

Over five years I had forgotten so much of what they showed me when I first picked my machine up.  We used our memory functions and our pattern start and stop buttons, we played with mono-filament thread and the stitch that looks hand done, we learnt how to elongate our eyelet stitch to make really cool oblongs and we learnt great tricks for appliqueing.   I'd recommend the course to anyone (who owns a 440 that is!).

And then because I was enthused, I broke out the Machingers (the best quilting gloves ever) and got quilting.  This is a troublesome quilt that I'm doing for a friend.  She had to take the borders off and is going to put them back on once I've finished - hence the huge bits of batting you can see around the edge. 

I've found the best way to set up my machine is to use my Sew-Ezi table (a small portable table that the machine sets into for a flat surface) and push that up against my desk and a trestle behind it.  That way I have lots of table top to support even a big quilt.

And with the help of Radio New Zealand archives playing in the background, I got the thing finished.  Yay!  Another one off the to-do list.

The pattern I designed is a meander with a rose, a loop, a curlicue and a leaf.  I hope she likes it.

It's growing on me

This, when finished, will be the largest quilt I have ever made.  And yes, this is the best picture I can take of it at the moment because.  It.  Just. Won't.  Fit.

I decided that it needed a border of squares of pale blue fabrics.  Onto those fabrics I am going to applique vines, leaves and birds in the same style as the centre medallion.  Then I think I'll finish it all off with a dark blue border.  It will fit nicely over my king size bed with some drape over the edges.

My sewing machine is taking a little service break at present so I'm filling in by hand sewing, hand quilting (which is so bad I'm embarrassed to show it), designing screeds of new quilts, and cutting out fabrics. 

I'm starting to get withdrawal symptoms.

Aww, Cheers!!

I need to show a little bit of gratitude. 

First to Elaine, from Soggy Bottom Flats.  She sent me this lovely parcel of batik scraps and they're fantastic!  Beautifully saturated colours and a perfect red amongst them.  (Check out her post of her husband receiving her 17-years-in-the-making quilt - the pictures are priceless.)

Then to Itch to Stitch, our local Bernina Agent.  Bernina do a fantastic five year warranty on electrical parts and 10 year warranty on mechanical parts.  My machine spat the dummy at me the other day and lo and behold, she was three months out of her electrical warranty (I've had her for FIVE years?  You're kidding me!  I'm sure she only arrived a month ago!  And I still love her as if she did.).  But Itch to Stitch did some sweet talking and I've only paid freight, no repair cost.  How cool is that?  Next time I'm in Whangarei, I'm gonna go show them some luv'.  (Of the retail kind, it's only fair, isn't it?)

And lastly to Wright Fabrics.  They sell good quality, reasonably priced batiks over their website.  I did an order (I treat myself occasionally) and although my payment went through, no fabric arrived.  Usually they are fantastically fast so this was unusual (okay, the sounds like I order more often than occasionally). Anyway, when I called them, they had had the payment but no order had come through.  And glitches happen, so I wasn't expecting it, but they sent me a half meter of fabric added to my parcel as an 'opps, sorry'. 

Aww, the world is full of good people.  Virtual hugs to them all!

One Handsome Man & WIP Wednesday

I mean, if I were a hen, I'd want him for my rooster - wouldn't you?

As for Work-In-Progress Wednesday...well, I have lots of little piles of sewing, all waiting for my machine to come back.  She's still off on her adventure.

Lots of little batik half-square triangles left over from snowball blocks I made for another quilt ages ago.  I thought I'd sew them together into a cushion cover or something.

I'm making an I spy quilt for my daughter (you have to make one of them in a lifetime don't you?!).  I discovered what to do with all the leftovers of the prints - make the backing!  So they are patiently waiting to be pieced in some fashion or another.

Can't show too much of this one as the intended recipient's parents read this blog ;)  It's waiting to be quilted.  You can see the old blanket I've used as batting.

And a bag, just for me, just for fun.

A rainy work-in-progress Wednesday.

It's raining outside and a howling gale.  It blew my rooster pen gate (a sheet of corrugated iron with a slab of wood against it - sophisticated, I know) open and four of them got out and are literally blowing around the lawn.  Hopefully they'll have had enough by this evening and be happy to go back into the pen!

Perfect weather for staying inside and quilting.  Except I still don't have a machine.  The service man rang me yesterday and she has to be sent away for a new electricky-sockety-board-plug-thingey and, of course, she is three months out of her electrical warranty. 

So I'm sifting through my projects and working on bits that don't need sewing.  I don't have a design wall so I lay my quilts out on the floor.  I needed to lay out this one to see how big it's getting, how many more blocks I need to do, how the colours are working - basically an overall critique.  I take photos because it gets me further away from it and picks up things I don't see with the naked eye.  Like the red albatross - stands out like a sore thumb!

Here's another angle, I decided I definitely need more red in it, so I went to my stash to see what I had in the way of red batiks.  I also decided I need a few 6 x 12 inch blocks to break it up a bit so I also pulled out a few other batiks.  Then I turned around and....

Ah well, they say never work with animals or children!  Little Miss Mischievous!

Now for all you quilters out there, if you haven't done it in a while, go put a new blade in your rotary cutter.  It's absolute bliss!

This might be expensive.....

I was going to show you my work in progress for Wednesday.

I was.....until my sewing machine broke down.

Sob!

I guess you can still see my bits and pieces, all lined up waiting to be joined into blocks, but I wanted to show you the blocks NOT the bits and pieces.

Maybe she is trying to tell me something.

Have I been neglecting her? Have I not been using her enough? Is it that she still doesn't have a name after ummmm four years?

Anyway, she made a high pitched squealing noise and turned herself on and off and on and off. I fiddled with her plug, it got worse. I tried to sew anyway (you know: ignore it and it will go away), it got worse. Her screen went blank, I got scared so I turned her off for good and off she goes to the shop.

That's it!

She just wanted a holiday!

(She could have just told me, no need for theatrics.)

In The Still of the Night....

....I quilt!! As an employed midwife, I work night-shift sometimes. That means 11pm till 7am I am at the maternity ward, whether there are women here or not. And I am on by myself (being a small, rural unit, we haven't much call for loads of staff). So it can get kinda lonely and just a tad BORING! Once the menial checklist tasks are done, and I've cleaned out a drawer or done something equally as industrious, I break out my sewing machine and get to it.

I used to feel a little odd. I mean, shouldn't I be working or something? What if the phone rang? But then I figured nobody would look at me funny if I was reading my book and I can jump up from my sewing machine just as fast as I can put a book down. So now I have no qualms about it.

And I get sooooo much done. Having two littles at home (sir aged 4 and madam aged 1), my quilting happens all too infrequently for my liking. Here at the hospital (I'm on night duty right now, yawn!!) I can solidly quilt for as long as I like and not get interrupted by food, toilet duties, fights..............and I get PAID!

Ok, so sometimes this place is a madhouse. Postnatal rooms full, one labour room in full swing and another lady coming in!! And then I work my little (little? who am I kidding!) butt off. But sure as eggs, if I DON'T bring in some sewing, it will be a very, very quiet night.